Yesterday, the Belgian minister of Interior denied an entry visa to the Kuwaiti Speaker and Islamic scholar Dr. Tarek Al Soweidan. Al Soweidan belongs to the most moderate brand within the Muslim brotherhood movement which is itself the most moderate current within orthodox Islam. He is mainly known as a TV personality, a motivational speaker and an advocate of women rights and of reforms in Islamic theology. Dr. AL Soweidan, who holds a PHD in petroleum engineering from the American Tulsa university, was quoted in an interview with the News channel Al Arabia saying that Freedom comes before Sharia, defending the rights of Christians to do missionary work in Muslim countries, hence converting Muslims, and pleading for allowing Churches to be built freely. Not the kind of views you would hear everyday from Muslim scholars. Al Soweidan is a liberal, he is a businessman, and his religious teachings have the imprints of his liberal principals. So why not let him into Belgium you may wonder?

Belgian-Saudi ties are at the highest level

This comes at at a time when we need more people to preach this kind of Islam and to make this kind of Islam mainstream, in order to protect our youth against the influence of the Wahhabi brand that leads directly to ISIS. The Wahhabi brand that is preached freely in Belgian mosques due to the strong ties of Belgium with Saudi Arabia is the brand that is poisonous. What Soweidan preaches is not the poison, but the antidote. And it is this man that gets banned. What are the reasons? Well, the reason is that Al Soweidan is not your home grown American-European-Islam preacher “sell out”. His progressive views of Islam are not fake, or the result of a “subsidized project” by the EU or the U.S State department. Instead, his views are true reflections of his liberal and justice driven principals. He is therefore very moderate on religion, yet very outspoken on democracy and on Palestine. The exact opposite of Wahhabi, who are very conservative and literalists on religion, and very anti-democratic. Wahhabi are also silent about, and often complacent with Israel. Soweidan is fiercely opposed to the coup of the Sissi Junta in Egypt that deposed the elected president Morsi, massacred his supporters and imprisoned thousands of opposition members. Very logical for a democrat and a liberal won’t you say? The Wahhabi and behind them Saudi Arabia supported the coup and financed it.

Victims of Zionist Barbarism in Palestine

But the main point here, and the most relevant point as to why he was denied entry is that he is Anti-Zionist. What does that mean? An Anti-Zionist is someone who considers Zionism to be a colonial racist ideology. Not a very rare point of view. Next to the fact that a resolution of the general assembly of the united nations considered Zionism to be a form of racism up till the nineties when it was annulled through American pressure, and next to the fact that people like Nelson Mandela, and before him Mahatma Ghandi were Anti-Zionists, many Jewish people are also Anti-Zionists. By extension, an Anti-Zionist condemns the product of Zionism, the state of Israel, as a colonial racist apartheid state and calls for its dismantling and for replacing it with a democratic pluralistic state. Also a very consistent stance with the liberal and democratic views of AL Soweidan if you ask me. During the slaughter that Israel committed against the people of Gaza few months ago, Dr. Al Soweidan was calling for more resistance and more rockets to be fired and called to nurture the hate of Zionists among Muslims starting by Childhood. Strong words that can only be understood within the context of what we all were experiencing of emotions and feelings of outrage and anger during that onslaught. As a communication specialist Dr. Soweidan should have known that “hatred” is a word to avoid. Yet on content his statement is correct and rightful. First of all he did not refer to the Jews but to the “Sons of Zion”, an Arabic expression used to describe Zionists. Zionists are not a people, nor a race nor a religious group, they are a bunch of racist Jewish-nationalist colonial extremists that were allowed to occupy Palestine, massacre and ethnically cleanse its people, and build an apartheid racist State that keeps doing the same every day, and does the same at this moment. Before you finish reading this article, a new Palestinian will be thrown out of his home, a new Palestinian mother will be beaten by an Israeli soldier, a new Palestinian old man will be insulted at a check point, a new Palestinian youth will be abducted and unlawfully thrown in Jail without trial, or even shot and killed. This is Zionism. Hating this is hating injustice and is a value that is equal to loving Justice. Teaching the hatred of this to your children is equal to teaching them the hatred of what ISIS does, and is also equal to teaching them the opposite values, that are these of fairness, justice, and just peace. So based upon this, and some other interviews where he spoke about “Jewish influence” Dr. Al Soweidan was branded an anti-Semite and was banned from entering Belgium.

Jan Jambon at a Nazi collaboration apologists meeting

The Irony in this all is that The minister of Interior of Belgium who banned Dr. Soweidan from entering the country, and did so probably based upon the lobbying of Zionists, is the notorious Jan Jambon of the far-right Flemish Nationalist NVA party. Mr. Jambon is controversial in Belgium and beyond for having downplayed collaboration with the Nazis in Belgium, and he even spoke at a pro collaboration rally in 2001. This behavior is no exception among politicians of the NVA who openly sympathize with Flemish Nazi collaborators and downplay the gravity of the crimes committed by these SS militants during WWII. Oddly, The Zionist lobby and the far right NVA have very close ties. The Zionists and the NVA are both more concerned of positions supporting the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and they are both keen on stimulating Islamophobia rather than condemning clearly and without any hesitation the crimes of the Flemish Nazis also responsible for deporting many Jews to concentration camps. An appalling unholy alliance and a hypocrite position from both involved parties. The Zionists tolerating advocates of SS members, and the NVA claiming to be a people’s liberation movement while defending a colonial oppressive state. The sad thing is, the Belgian government is now in the hands of that kind of morally corrupt politicians. The Belgian far-right government and its Zionist friends should not overestimate themselves. They cannot silence Dr. Al Soweidan. The man has more followers on twitter and Facebook than the inhabitants of Belgium all together. Denying Dr. Al Soweidan entry because of his Anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian positions, while maintaining the best relations with Saudi Wahhabi establishment is for millions of Arabs and Muslims including those living in Europe, just another proof that Zionists, colonial-racists and Wahhabi are objective allies. It is the results of the deeds of this true “axis of evil” and of its actions locally and internationally that are pushing our youth to join fanatic organizations like ISIS. An organization that has the Wahhabi religious fanaticism, the Zionist political strategies and tactics, and the blind arrogance of the colonial establishment.